A wireless access point (or access point) is a device that allows wired communication devices (e.g., network devices, such as routers, firewalls, switches, or gateways, which transfer or switch data, such as packets) to connect to a wireless network (e.g., a wireless local area network (WLAN)) using wireless technologies (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or related standards). The access point may connect to a network device (e.g., connected to a network), and may relay data between wireless devices (e.g., client devices, such as personal computers, laptop computers, printers, smart phones, etc.) and the network device. In one example, an access point may include a wireless network device, such as a wireless router.
A typical corporate use of access points involves attaching several access points to a wired network (e.g., a corporate intranet that includes one or more network devices) and providing wireless access to client devices located, for example, in a building. The access points may form a WLAN for the client devices, and may be managed by a WLAN controller. The WLAN controller may handle automatic adjustments to radio frequency (RF) power, channels, authentication, and/or security associated with the access points.
The typical access point location and coverage modeling process requires a network administrator to manually select access point locations, such as by using blueprints or other drawings of a facility. These locations may be used for RF coverage optimization (e.g., channels and power level selection) of the access points and for WLAN location-based services (e.g., client device tracking). The process requires the network administrator to import facility floor plans, and to either manually select potential access point locations or manually specify facility RF characteristics (e.g., RF characteristics of walls, ceilings, and other obstructions). However, this manual process is prone to human errors, such as assigning incorrect access point identifications (IDs) to locations, locating access points at incorrect locations, improperly orienting directional antennas of access points, not inputting access point locations, etc.